Mitigating Rifle Recoil

[Wyosmith]

The top 3 things you can do to reduce recoil are
#1 a good pad.
#2 a mercury recoil reducer installed in the stock
#3 a muzzle break. All three together will make a 30-06 feel like a 243.
Beware in the case of the muzzle break however. There is a down side to them. The best ones make the muzzle blast a lot louder.

[jmr40]

also you may have gotten a "mountain lite model"

This sounds plausible. A standard 700 shouldn't recoil any worse than any other rifle. The Mountain rifles are quite a bit lighter and recoil could be noticeably greater.

Please don't add any weight to a rifle, especially if it is one of the Mt rifles. You will ruin it. There are better ways to reduce recoil anyway. The older versions did not come with recoil pads. Adding a $35 hi-tech pad to the gun will get recoil down to near 243 levels without adding un necessary weight.

[jimbob86]

How does the stock compare on your Remington compare to your Savage rifles? Stock shape has a lot to do with felt recoil, and the design of your Remington stock might be the major problem.

This.

Is the new to you 30-06 an older model? Many older guns have stocks that were designed to use iron sights, or small, low powered scopes ...... the stocks on these older guns had a lot of drop, to put the shooter's eye in line with the irons ..... When installing one of today's modern scopes with their larger objectives, sight height increases such that a good cheek weld is impossible without a cheek pad.

If you don't get a good cheek weld, then the gun is gonna smack you on every shot.

[Beezer]

Please don't add any weight to a rifle, especially if it is one of the Mt rifles. You will ruin it. There are better ways to reduce recoil anyway. The older versions did not come with recoil pads. Adding a $35 hi-tech pad to the gun will get recoil down to near 243 levels without adding un necessary weight.

JMR40 -
Based on the description of the mountain lite version, I don't think that's what I have. This rifle seems fairly heavy.

Adding weight to the rifle is near the bottom of the list of things to try. A good recoil pad is at the top.

I am beginning to think that I might not have had the rifle tucked snugly into my shoulder (I was wearing a thicker coat, as it was cold that day) and may have bruised my shoulder that way. Combine that with bench shooting and that may be what caused the rifle to seem like it had much more kick.

[tobnpr]

Recoil pads reduce felt recoil.
Muzzle brakes reduce "actual" recoil (don't know if that's the correct terminology, but you get my point).

Muzzle brakes also have the advantage of minimizing "hop" allowing you to get back on target more quickly. In long range application, I have no problem getting the target back in the sight picture before bullet impact eliminating the need for a spotter.

Yeah, they can be a bit annoying to the shooters on either side- but that's life at a public range. Still far less annoying than some yahoo with his AK or SKS that feels like doing mag dumps next to me.

[JD0x0]

From what I understand, muzzle brakes don't really reduce recoil. They don't reduce the push back into your shoulder. They reduce muzzle rise by directing gasses in a manner that counteracts the muzzle rising which allows faster follow up shots, and easier self shot spotting. There may be some brakes out there that directly reduce the 'push' into your shoulder but I would think that would mean directing gases back at the shooter, for that to happen. I wouldn't exactly want hot gasses and unburnt powder directed at my face. The actual weight of the brake may slightly reduce recoil by adding 1lb or so to the rifle, but the brake itself, is usually not designed to reduce the 'push' which is what tends to bother people's shoulder the most. If flinching is a problem, a brake could potentially help since the gun wont be jumping up as much, but as far as getting the sore shoulder, I don't think most brakes will make that significant of a difference.
A pad and/or adding weight seems to be the best way to cure the shoulder bruising recoil. More weight will both reduce the force and the speed at which the rifle recoils into your shoulder. A pad will give you a nice cushion between the end of the stock and your shoulder.

[5whiskey]

From what I understand, muzzle brakes don't really reduce recoil. They don't reduce the push back into your shoulder. They reduce muzzle rise by directing gasses in a manner that counteracts the muzzle rising which allows faster follow up shots, and easier self shot spotting. There may be some brakes out there that directly reduce the 'push' into your shoulder but I would think that would mean directing gases back at the shooter, for that to happen. I wouldn't exactly want hot gasses and unburnt powder directed at my face. The actual weight of the brake may slightly reduce recoil by adding 1lb or so to the rifle, but the brake itself, is usually not designed to reduce the 'push' which is what tends to bother people's shoulder the most. If flinching is a problem, a brake could potentially help since the gun wont be jumping up as much, but as far as getting the sore shoulder, I don't think most brakes will make that significant of a difference.

Not to be contrary, but this would be false sir. Muzzle brakes do in fact reduce the felt recoil... which would mean they reduce the push back into your shoulder. Muzzle brakes usually vent the gasses back at an angle toward the shooter on the same plane (parallel to) the center line of the bore. The gasses are not vented directly toward the shooter for the purpose of keeping that hot gas and unburnt powder out of your face. They are typically vented at around 30 degrees or so, which still significantly reduces felt recoil and pushes the gases far enough out to the side to keep out of the shooter's face. They do, however, make the report of the rifle MUCH louder both to the shooter (not as much) and to those off to the side (WAY louder). Muzzle compensators, on the other hand, direct the gases upwards and help prevent muzzle rise as you describe.

[jolly1]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqlQrb7JhA4
JP ENTERPRISE RECOIL ELIMINATOR

http://www.jprifles.com/1.4.2_re.php

[Deja vu]

things that help with recoil.

1. recoil pad
2. muzzle break
3. mag-na-porting
4. adding weight
5. Thick clothing
6. one of those pads that goes on your shoulder
7. Lighter ammo
8. adding a suppressor
9. pistol grip stocks (like on some lever actions) seem to me to recoil less than straight stocks.
10. Some people swear by the mercury tubes in the stock. I am not sure they help any more than just adding lead weights.

That is what I can come up with in about 5 min.

a suppressor will reduce recoil about like a muzzle break and make the gun quieter as well. It helps a lot if you are prone to flinching.